Agenda
8:00-8:45AM – Meet & Greet and Class Introduction
8:45-9:45AM – The Standards Movement
9:45-10:00AM – Break
10:00-11:30AM – Setting High Expectations for Learning
11:30-12:30PM – Lunch
12:30-1:45PM – Critical Thinking
1:45-2:00PM – Break
2:00-2:45PM Critical Thinking
2:45-3:00PM – Questions and Feedback
Meet & Greet
1. What is your name?
2. What grade/subject do you teach?
3. What is an educated person? If
education is focused on helping a student
become some kind of person, what kind
of person do we want him/her to
become?
Goals
1. Participants will be able to critically examine the
historical events that have lead up to the formation
of national standards.
2. Participants will analyze the correlation between
the curriculum and the delivery of the curriculum.
3. Participants will be able to use two questioning
strategies to promote high academic expectations
for their students.
4. Participants will learn multiple strategies to
promote critical thinking in their classroom.
The history of the “standard.”
Reading of Ravitch (2010) chapter:
Hijacked! How the Standards
Movement Turned into the Testing
Movement
Assignment
0 Intro: pp. 15-17 – All
0 Clinton Admin. pp. 17-19 – Team Rudolph
0 Goals 2000 pp. 19-21 – Team Rudolph
0 Obama Admin. pp. 21-22 – Team G-Men
0 A Nation at Risk pp. 22-25 – Team G-Men
0 A Nation at Risk 2 pp. 25-28 – Team Frosty
0 ANAR/NCLB pp. 28-30 - Team Frosty
Key Points from Introduction
*Tests should follow curriculum.
They should be based on the
curriculum.
*The well educated person has a
well-furnished mind, shaped by
reading and thinking about
history, science, literature, the
arts, and politics.
Key Points
*The well-educated person has
learned how to explain ideas and
listen respectfully to others.
Teaching and Learning
Setting High Academic
Expectations
Right is Right Technique
Set and defend standard of correctness in your
classroom.
How do the Capulets and Montagues get along?
Partially Right
Student replies, “They don’t like each other.”
Teacher replies, “Right, they don’t like each other , and
they have been feuding for generations.”
-The teacher is doing the cognitive work that the
student could do themselves.
Questions You Might Ask
1. “So, is this a recent thing? A temporary thing? Who
can build on Kiley’s answer?”
2. “Kiley, you said the Capulets and the Montegues
didn’t get along. Does that really capture their
relationship? Does it sound like what they’d say
about each other?”
Four categories
Hold out for all the way.
1. I like what you’ve
done. Can you get us
the rest of the way?
2. We’re almost there.
Can you find the last
piece?
3. Can you develop that
further?
4. Okay, but, there’s a bit
more to it than that.
Answer the question
Students who may not
know the answer may
answer a different
question.
Right Answer, right time
Use technical vocabulary
View a Clip
Right is Right
Stretch It Technique
The sequence of learning does not end
with a right answer; reward right
answers with follow-up questions that
extend knowledge and test for reliability.
This technique is especially important for
differentiating instruction.
Ask how or why: Can they explain how
they got their answer?
Ask for another way to answer: When a
student solves it one way, it’s a great
opportunity to make sure they can use all
available methods.
Ask for a better word: Offer
opportunities to use more specific words,
as well as new words with which they are
gaining familiarity.
Ask for evidence: Ask student to build and
defend their conclusions and support
opinions from among multiple possible
answers.
Ask students to integrate a related skill:
Ask students to integrate the skill with
others recently mastered.
Ask students to apply the same skill in a
new setting: Once students have mastered a
skill, ask them to apply it in a new or more
challenging setting.
View a Clip
Right is Right and Stretch It
Establishing a Culture of
Thinking
“Critical thinking must, therefore,
command a place in any institution
committed to the pursuit of education
because critical thinking is a necessary
condition of it.”
-J.E. McPeck
Introduction
What is a classroom culture that
nurtures thinking?
Strategies to Cultivate
Thinking
Strategies I Use
Strategies I Will Use
Discussion Questions
1. How do you currently support a thinking culture in
your classroom?
2. What are some ways to enhance the thinking culture
in your classroom?
3. What metaphor would characterize a thinking
classroom?
Evaluate the level of thinking in your classroom by
using Figure 7.2 “Elements of Classroom Culture that
Nurtures Thinking.”
Importance of Critical
Thinking
1. What do you think is the most compelling reason for
students to be taught critical thinking?
2. What is the most important reason to include
critical thinking skills in your curriculum?
3. What are the consequences of not teaching critical
thinking?
4. Describe an example when a lack of critical thinking
had a negative impact on your life.
Rate your own level of critical thinking and the average
level of the students in your class using Figure 1.3
Characteristics of Strong Critical Thinkers.
What have your learned?
1. List three things you learned from today’s
workshop.
2. List three things you want to learn more about in
relation to today’s topics.
3. Today’s workshop was meaningful and informative.
(Circle the one that applies)
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree Strongly Agree
Thank you and have a
relaxing and safe
holiday break!